SAFETY FIRST? Michael Hill arrives home yesterday from his elevator-maintenance job. City probers say he overrode a safety system that led to the death of Suzanne Hart. Photo: Robert Kalfus

Suzanne Hart. (
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Danger: Elevator man at work.

The lift mechanic whose botched job resulted in a young ad executive getting crushed to death was still allowed to tinker with the city’s elevators yesterday.

Michael Hill arrived at his home in Glen Gardner, NJ, after a long day on the job — wearing a navy blue New York Elevator Operators uniform and covered in grease.

Hill was working on the city’s elevators just one day after investigators on Monday released a scathing report, accusing him of overriding the critical elevator safety system that led to Y&R ad exec Suzanne Hart’s gruesome death on Dec. 14.

Hill refused to comment on the Department of Investigation’s findings.

The city’s investigation shows that Hill bypassed the safety system on Elevator 9 at 285 Madison Ave. with a “jumper” cable so work could be done.

Then, just two minutes before Hart tried to board the lift, Hill’s co-workers took a break outside — without anyone turning the safety system back on or posting a warning.

The elevator shot up as Hart entered, crushing her.

After the accident, Hill tried to cover his tracks by telling investigators that he restored the safety system before Hart boarded. But officials found a jumper cable still near the Elevator 9 control panel — where Hill was stationed at the time of the incident — more than a week later.

Hill’s wife, Peggy, said they had been advised not to speak to the media.

Not only is Hill still free to work on elevators, but a source at Transel Inc., his employer, said he will likely be reassigned. It’s unclear where or what his duties will be.

Meanwhile, Transel scrambled to reassure clients yesterday that it’s still open for business — even though the city’s report laid bare several worker failures leading to Hart’s death.

The company said in a letter that it could remain open even though the Department of Buildings suspended the private license of one of Transel’s owners, John Fichera, due to Hart’s death.

Fichera may also have his license revoked.

“With regard to Transel’s business operation, whatever the outcome and ultimate determination of Mr. Fichera’s private license, a second company principal will continue to hold an agency director’s licence with the company’s operations continuing unabated and unimpaired,” the letter said.

Transel transferred its operating licence to co-owner Michael Staub until the end of 2012.

But a city official familiar with the case said that while Transel wasn’t breaking any laws by transferring the licence, the way it was defending Fichera was questionable.

“How do you defend what happened here?” a source said.

The city’s report has been referred to the Manhattan DA’s Office, which has opened an investigation.